Check out one of our six E-Books:
• “Squat Every Day”
• “Eat What You Want”
• “Squat Every Day 2”
• “No Weaknesses”
• “Mash Program Sampler”
• “The Mash Blueprint for Program Design”
Check them out here: ⇒ Mash Elite E-Books
Monday Workouts January 23, 2017
I had one of my strongest days to date yesterday. I started my morning off by working out with my longtime buddy Chris Ox Mason and my other buddy CTP. When you workout with people that you love, training is way more exciting and enjoyable.
I can’t express how happy I am to be excited about training again at 43-years-old. What excites me about training? That’s a questions that I am asked quite a bit. The answer is curiosity. I am curious as to what’s possible. How far can I take my body at this age compared to 10-years ago or 20-years ago? I have no idea, but I am going to find out.
Every day is adventure training with Ox Mason. I don’t know what new thing that he will throw at me, and I don’t know what new barrier I will break through. What excites you about training? If you don’t know, you should find out. You need to find a way to make training a passion. Then it’s not a chore for you to check off some list. Then it becomes something you look forward to.
Ox and I were sharing with CTP that the gym is our hangout. Some people go hangout at the bar or the bowling alley. We hang out at the gym. The gym is recreation for us. It’s not some torture, or thing that we have to do. It’s something that we want to do.
Morning Session at TFW Winston-Salem
Bench Press Max Effort
375lb x 1 Comeback PR
315lb x 5 all paused a 5 rep PR
Bentover Rows Paused one second on chest 3 x 8 reps
KB Upright Rows 3 x 8 reps making sure that the eccentric is slower than the concentric
Mobility work focused on hips and thoracic spine
Evening Session at Mash Compound
Back Squat Modified Mash Method
242k/532lb x 1 PR
255k/562lb x 1 PR (up 33lb from last week)
200k x 5
Sumo Deadlift Max Effort
505lb x 1 PR sad to say
The bench PR was a big milestone because it left me only 25lb away from 400lb. I am way ahead of schedule on all my lifts. I was hoping to be at this point around May. I feel very blessed that my body is responding so quickly. I added in the rows to strengthen the areas where I am weakened from my cervical spine injury. I like to pause my rows to really strengthen the rhomboids.
The upright rows seem to be the weakest movement of all for me. I am assuming this is true because the movement requires fibers from my upper and middle trap to fire, which happen to be closer to the cervical spine. I am weaker the closer that you get to me cervical spine. That’s why I will be keeping the exercise in my program for a while.
I definitely went off the script in the evening session with the big back squat PR of 255k/562lb. I felt strong, so I decided to get an idea where my strength is on the back squat. The lift was probably an 8 RPE, so I feel a 600lb high bar squat is just around the corner. I will now get back on the program and stick to workout for a few weeks now that I have tested things out a bit.
Max Effort Deadlift was on the cards for today, so the 505lb sumo deadlift was an 80lb PR as of late sadly. Sumo deadlifts absolutely destroy my soul to perform. The main reason that I perform this movement is to increase blood flow to my hips and encourage healthier positions. You can see when I squat that my stance is extra close. I would love to get my stance back to a more shoulder width stance, which is where I have always been the strongest. I am using the sumo deadlift to encourage this position.
==============================================
Check out one of the Online Teams:
• Mash Mafia Bronze
• Mash Mafia Silver
• Mash Mafia Gold
• Eat What You Want
• Eat and Lift What You Want
Check them out here: ⇒ Mash Mafia Online Teams